Microelectronic packages or packaging elements such as substrates are widely used in electronic assemblies. Typical packages and packaging elements commonly include a dielectric material in the form of a sheet or plate of dielectric material having numerous conductive traces extending on a sheet or plate. The traces may be provided in one layer or in multiple layers, separated by layers of dielectric material. The packages or packaging elements may also include conductive elements such as via liners extending through the layers of dielectric material to interconnect traces in different layers. In some cases circuit panels are used as elements of microelectronic packages.
Microelectronic packages generally comprise one or more substrates with one or more microelectronic devices such as one or more semiconductor chips mounted on such substrates. The conductive elements of the substrate may include the conductive traces and terminals for making electrical connection with a larger substrate or circuit panel, thus facilitating electrical connections needed to achieve desired functionality of the devices. The chip may be electrically connected to the traces and hence to the terminals, so that the package can be mounted to a larger circuit panel by bonding the terminals to contact pads on the larger circuit panel. For example, some substrates used in microelectronic packaging have terminals in the form of pins or contacts extending from the dielectric element.
Despite considerable efforts devoted in the art heretofore to development of microelectronic packages and packaging elements and methods for fabricating such devices, further improvement would be desirable.